[prince_pervez]

Originally Posted by safari_lover

I saw an Jazz on the road yesterday. So the deliveries have already begun!!

Is it? Cool. The sales number for the next 3 months or so are going to be very very interesting, keeping in mind what all has been said on this thread.

[shyamhegde]

Few of my frends delayed (ing) their new car purchase as they wanted Jazz to come on the road. One of them is a first time buyer. Started with Santro/i10 when he thought of buying a car and then waited for Jazz because he wanted to see if jazz is better than i20. I do not think he is anymore thinking of Jazz now.

What I feel is, For the first time buyer or one who wanted to `upgrade` from Satro/Wagon R to bigger hatch (I20, Swift in mind) would not be able to bring Jazz in their list.

Sure, Honda would have priced it after knowing the target customer segment for Jazz. Only, not all of us are their target or do not know who they are.

[supremeBaleno]

I called up Capital Honda and asked for on-road prices for the Jazz @ Chennai :

Jazz -------: 8,08,000
Jazz Mode -: 8,38,000
Jazz Active : 8,43,000

I asked for on-road prices of their City (MT) models which were :

City MT - 9,00,000
City MT (higher trim) - 9,57,000

I like the way the Jazz looks, I like the space management, I like the magic seats thing, I love the reliability of a Honda (though 23 years with different Suzuki cars tell me that they are equally reliable), but I don't see myself paying 8 to 8.5 lakhs for a hatch (premium or bigger not withstanding) when I can get their more powerful sedan by paying just another 50K (peanuts when you are putting down 9 big ones).

But then, as I said before, I (or most of us here) do not constitute the segment that Honda is targetting.

At the same time, I think since it's their product, they can price it wherever they want and I am sure there will still be takers for it. If not, we might see some changes in their pricing, which is anyway good for all of us.

I believe most of the sales would come from the exclusivity factor. Even though many of us here can afford the Jazz, we would not buy it and so those that buy it might be aspiring for exclusivity. Nothing wrong in that too - to each his own.

Maybe like the R15 when it comes to bikes. Yeah, it is hi-tech, but it still is 150-odd cc and its peers come at around 60-70K. There are many that can afford it, but most of them are practical thinking (like most of us here) and would settle for a Pulsar or Apache, giving some exclusivity to the R15. Infact, I have been eyeing the R15 for some time - am no serious biker, but love how it looks, love the hi-tech nature and ofcourse the exclusivity.

[Equus]

Originally Posted by prince_pervez

Is it? Cool. The sales number for the next 3 months or so are going to be very very interesting, keeping in mind what all has been said on this thread.

Is there no auto option??? Then its even more interesting! Dont tell me its another 50k more

As GTO mentioned earlier on the thread, its a good 2nd or a 3rd car. Especially the self driven ones - those folks would turn in their current OHC/NHC/Fiesta/SX4/etc and go for Jazz instead. Since these are almost 100% city-use only, the less boot space shouldnt be any issue at all.

[ac 427]

Originally Posted by VahanPujari

Check this thread & run thro' certain posts. Those guys guys give a damn to climate control, alloys etc. Till now they used to care a damn about interiors & features/ equipments also since ANHC is poor in that deppt. But now suddenly Interiors & features/ equipment have become one of the strong points since Jazz is good at that
Knowing Honda & how it does sales planning, 2000 units p.m. will be achieved. Sad but thats how it goes.

I know that indians are a bit wiered in taking car decision, even though a sale figure of 2000 P.M is v difficult with the price tag mentioned. Maybefor the 1st 2 - 3 months, but later on it will fizz out.

cheers,
ac

[prince_pervez]

Originally Posted by ac 427

I know that indians are a bit wiered in taking car decision, even though a sale figure of 2000 P.M is v difficult with the price tag mentioned. Maybefor the 1st 2 - 3 months, but later on it will fizz out.

cheers,
ac

Exactly my thoughts. It is very difficult to say or imagine that it will reach/maintain figures of the NHC. And I don't think 'now' that it will flop like the U-VA, Fabia either.

[ada]

In some interview, I think it was zee business channel in hindi, one Honda guy packed a nice bunch of packages in the car to show how much space can be created. Later when the interviewer harangued about the car price, he said they would have to wait for two/three years to get Honda car in that price segement. I guess the Honda people know that this time they have bitten more then they can chew and are already preparing for an alternative.

[typeOnegative]

Originally Posted by Zappo

Ummm... My take on a few things here after reading the review and junta's take on it. .... and suddenly some people may not find the 8 lakh tag that exorbitant afterall.

Exactly what I wanted to say. I somehow feel that despite the price tag, there is still value to be had / derived from this car. And I do think it will sell ....

[Guna]

Originally Posted by typeOnegative

Exactly what I wanted to say. I somehow feel that despite the price tag, there is still value to be had / derived from this car. And I do think it will sell ....

If you look at what are the key values most buyers look for from a car in our market

1. Space
2. Comfort
3. FE
4. Reliability
5. Price

What is important but not critical are:

1. Power
2. Handling
3. Styling
4. Safety

Jazz scores highly on all but one parameters in the first list, so it might just sell.

[VahanPujari]

Originally Posted by ac 427

I know that indians are a bit wiered in taking car decision, even though a sale figure of 2000 P.M is v difficult with the price tag mentioned. Maybefor the 1st 2 - 3 months, but later on it will fizz out.

cheers,
ac

The way Honda plans Product Launch (they would have done enough studies) & subsequent Sales, IMO in all probabilities Honda would hit the target of 2,000 units monthly. Clearly they're looking at customers having Segment D cars or even premium cars - Merc/ BMW/ VW/ Skoda - to buy Jazz as 2nd/3rd/4th car in the family as city-car & Most of these guys don't give a damn about Price vs Performance, what matters is exclusivity.

[jassi]

Originally Posted by VahanPujari

The way Honda plans Product Launch (they would have done enough studies) & subsequent Sales, IMO in all probabilities Honda would hit the target of 2,000 units monthly. Clearly they're looking at customers having Segment D cars or even premium cars - Merc/ BMW/ VW/ Skoda - to buy Jazz as 2nd/3rd/4th car in the family as city-car & Most of these guys don't give a damn about Price vs Performance, what matters is exclusivity.

maybe these are the same people who bought the few chevy srv hatches we see on the roads

[StarVegabond]

From all the discussion till now i can see that following people could be a target customers for Honda Jazz

1. The owners of D or E segment cars who want a second car: considering average age of the car ownership of 7 years, every 15% of the Segment D/E owners would buy a new car every year = 5000-6000 cars per year
2. Fairer sex = female car buyers. I read some where that approx 10-15% of the new car buyers are females = 100-150K cars per year bought by females. even if 10% of these females migrate to Jazz it would mean 10-15K cars sale for Honda
3. First/second time upgraders who have tons of money to throw away for H brand.
India buys approx 1.3M cars per year, approx 25% of these are Segment B cars = 250K cars. consider even 3% (= rich population of India as per census) of those 250K buy Jazz = 7K - 8K cars

in total 5K+ 10K + 7K = 22K cars (at minimum) and 6K+15K+8K = 29K cars per year

i see that Honda has clearly understood indian mindset and market and hence projecting that they would target 20K-25K cars per year.

(:-)))

[SilentEngine]

Originally Posted by VahanPujari

The way Honda plans Product Launch (they would have done enough studies) & subsequent Sales, IMO in all probabilities Honda would hit the target of 2,000 units monthly. Clearly they're looking at customers having Segment D cars or even premium cars - Merc/ BMW/ VW/ Skoda - to buy Jazz as 2nd/3rd/4th car in the family as city-car & Most of these guys don't give a damn about Price vs Performance, what matters is exclusivity.

You are right. I was watching a program on CNBC TV18 yesterday, according to which, 45% of the booking so far have come from existing Honda customers. So its not really hard to guess their target customers. But I still think 20000/year target is a bit high and cannot be sustained in the long run

Originally Posted by StarVegabond

From all the discussion till now i can see that following people could be a target customers for Honda Jazz
2. Fairer sex = female car buyers. I read some where that approx 10-15% of the new car buyers are females = 100-150K cars per year bought by females. even if 10% of these females migrate to Jazz it would mean 10-15K cars sale for Honda

nice analysis, but the 2nd set of buyers (fairer sex) can be in either 1 or 3, so you shouldn't be adding them separately.

[VahanPujari]

Originally Posted by VahanPujari

The way Honda plans Product Launch (they would have done enough studies) & subsequent Sales, IMO in all probabilities Honda would hit the target of 2,000 units monthly. Clearly they're looking at customers having Segment D cars or even premium cars - Merc/ BMW/ VW/ Skoda - to buy Jazz as 2nd/3rd/4th car in the family as city-car & Most of these guys don't give a damn about Price vs Performance, what matters is exclusivity.

If this happens i.e. Honda sells 2,000 units p.m. it would be very sad. I really wish if only those targeted customers stay away this time & set an example so other MFRs like VW think twice before ripping out features from the car that Indian customers so deserve & before charging a bomb.

Originally Posted by SilentEngine

You are right. I was watching a program on CNBC TV18 yesterday, according to which, 45% of the booking so far have come from existing Honda customers. So its not really hard to guess their target customers. But I still think 20000/year target is a bit high and cannot be sustained in the long run

Actually plain simple common sense says any new product which relies on very very selective target segment only & not on Feature-Benefits or Price-Performance finds it very difficult to sustain over long run

[joslicx]

Originally Posted by vivekiny2k

Dude, that's why I put corolla and civic in picture. It's a known fact that cars in India are 50-100% costlier because of duties. That's why I was saying FIT/JAZZ at comparable prices was a pleasant surprise to me (I am serious). I was avoiding to let a friend wait for it because I didn't expect it to launch at < 12L. Let's continue on the other aspects of the car now.

If Jazz had Civic like interiors (just quality is not enough - at that price quality shud be a 'given'. Aesthetics is also equally important...) and features then I cud have considered it even for 10 lacs but not in the present form. It is too plain jane for a premium car. Didnt like the looks (doest stand against the likes of GP, i20, Palio), didnt like interiors (still 20 year old sliding controls etc)...